Quit India Movement (1942): Context, Course, and Impact
In August 1942, with World War II at India’s doorstep and the Cripps offer rejected, the Congress launched Quit India with Gandhi’s call of “Do or Die.” Leaders were jailed within hours, yet spontaneous protests, strikes, and parallel governments erupted across provinces. The movement did not expel the British immediately but made clear that ruling India without Indian consent was untenable.
Context
- War pressures: Japan had taken Singapore and Burma; threat to India felt imminent.
- Cripps Mission failure (March 1942): Offered dominion status after the war and provincial option to opt out—dismissed as a “post-dated cheque on a crashing bank.”
- Congress stance: Wanted immediate transfer of power; war participation only with freedom assurance.
- Opposition positions: Muslim League sought safeguards and pressed “divide and quit”; Communist Party supported war after USSR entry; many princes loyal to British.
Launch and British Crackdown
- Gandhi’s Gowalia Tank (August 8) speech demanded British withdrawal; resolution passed by AICC.
- August 9 dawn arrests: Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad, and most CWC members detained; press gagged, Congress banned.
- Result: Leaderless mass upsurge—students, workers, peasants took charge locally.
Forms of Protest
- Strikes and hartals: Urban centres saw shutdowns, flag hoisting, and demonstrations.
- Sabotage: Attacks on police stations, rail/telegraph lines to disrupt administration.
- Parallel governments: Ballia (UP), Tamluk (Bengal), Satara (Maharashtra) ran local administration for months/years; collected taxes, maintained order.
- Underground networks: Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta (Congress Radio), Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia coordinated clandestinely.
- Women’s role: Leaders like Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kripalani, Matangini Hazra (martyred) led protests; many acted as couriers and organisers.
British Response
- Mass arrests (lakhs detained), public floggings, collective fines; use of RAF for aerial machine-gunning in some places.
- Press censorship and propaganda; attempts to project Congress as jeopardising war effort.
- Negotiations resumed only after war tide turned (Wavell talks 1945; Cabinet Mission 1946).
Outcome and Significance
- No immediate freedom: Movement was suppressed by 1943, but repression cost Britain legitimacy.
- Psychological shift: Demonstrated mass willingness to defy; showed administration could be paralysed despite leader arrests.
- Unity and limits: Broad participation, but League, Communists (post-1941), and many princes stayed out; highlights communal and political divides before independence.
- War factor: British dependence on Indian cooperation for bases/troops grew; post-war exhaustion and mutinies (INA trials, RIN 1946) further eroded control.
Key Facts for Exams
- Slogan “Quit India” coined by Yusuf Meherally; “Do or Die” by Gandhi.
- Viceroy: Lord Linlithgow.
- Congress Working Committee passed resolution at Wardha; AICC endorsed at Bombay.
- Parallel governments: Ballia (Chittu Pandey), Tamluk (Jatiya Sarkar), Satara (Prati Sarkar/Nana Patil).
Takeaway: Quit India was a leaderless, mass upsurge under wartime repression. It failed militarily but convinced both rulers and ruled that British authority in India rested on borrowed time.